For many college students, Spring Break is a time of excess and indulgence. But as KSC senior Hannah Dale reported, a couple of week-long breaks in February and March were times for some students to indulge in their excess social consciousness. They joined such programs as Alternative Spring Break and Here’s Life Inner City and fanned out across the country to build houses, set up computer labs for a women’s half-way house, improve the environment, tutor at-risk youth, and dig ditches. The students organized and led these trips, so they not only helped those in need, they also helped themselves learn some valuable lessons, including leadership skills.

Do you know any of these students? Want to give them a digital high five? Use the “comments” link below.

More information.

Dr. James E. Waller has been appointed Cohen Chair for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the first endowed professorship at Keene State College. He’ll be on board for the Fall 2010 semester.

Dr. Waller earned his Ph.D. in social psychology at the University of Kentucky and comes to us from Spokane, Washington, where he was professor of psychology at Whitworth University from 1988, holding the rotating Edward B. Lindamann Chair during 2003–07. He received Whitworth’s award for Outstanding Junior Faculty Achievement in Teaching and Research in 1993 and the Teaching Excellence Award in 1996. His book, Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing, now in its second edition with Oxford University Press, is a standard text for students of genocide throughout the United States.

Professor Waller will play a significant role in Keene State College’s new baccalaureate program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, offering key courses in genocide and comparative genocide. Active both nationally and internationally in Holocaust and genocide studies, he has held fellowships with the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies in Washington, DC, and is an instructor for the Raphael Lemkin Seminar for Genocide Prevention at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation.

The Owl women’s swim team set some new records at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Center last week, finishing 18th out of 51 teams and bringing home KSC’s first women’s swimming All-Americas.

Seniors Kristine Trutor and Alea Paddock teamed with sophomore Jillian Whitaker and freshman Kaila Umbarger to earn All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Then Trutor placed fourth in the 100 backstroke to become the first Owl woman swimmer to earn All-America in an individual event.

The KSC women’s 400 freestyle relay team, composed of Trutor, Whitaker, and Umbarger, and senior Jackie Foster, placed 16th, earning honorable mention All-America recognition.

As KSC coach Jack Fabian said, “They have put Keene State on the national swim map.”

Read more about this amazing championship here.

Everyone who was at the ECAC Championship game in Spaulding Gym on Sunday are probably wondering why their fingernails are so short today. The Owls defeated the Plymouth State Panthers 69-68 in overtime in a real nail-biter. “This was certainly one of the most exciting games I’ve seen at Keene State,” said sports information coordinator Stuart Kaufman. “It had all the elements: heated rivalry, back-and-forth scoring, and our five seniors in their last game.”

Were you there? Tell us about it.

If you weren’t there, visit the Women’s Basketball pages for a blow by blow.

Are you so passionate about something that you’d like to share it with the world – or at least, with the rest of the KSC community? Well, here’s your chance. The wonderful folks at the Thorne invite you to display your art, crafts, collectibles, or whatever you’re passionate about in a summer exhibition called Passionate Pursuits: Keene State College Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and Our Community Partner the Friends of the Thorne Share Their Creations and Collectibles. The exhibit opens Friday, June 4, and continues through Sunday, July 25; then it reopens Friday, September 3, through Thursday, September 30. The Friends of the Thorne will host a public reception on Friday, June 4, from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

This is a non-juried exhibit, and the gallery will accept pieces on a first-come, first-served basis and display as many items as it can. The exhibit is not meant to promote a business or product, so nothing will be for sale.

This will be the third Passionate Pursuits exhibit. Past exhibits have included a bird-carving collection, rock-climbing photos, handcrafted baskets, hand-colored photos, baseball memorabilia, a Native American collection, hand-knitted items, wood-turned containers, and an antique penny-farthing bicycle.

If you’d like to share your passion, please fill out our online form by Monday, April 19. We’d also like you to write a paragraph explaining why you are passionate about the material you’ve submitted and what the Thorne Gallery means to you and the community.

The Owl men and women swimmers are awash in victory! They headed to the Upper Valley Aquatic Center in White River Junction, Vt., on Sunday, Feb. 21 to defend their New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships and did just that. Both teams expected Bentley College to be a formidable foe. Maybe it was, but that still didn’t stop the Owls. The women posted a 924-802 victory over Bentley, capturing their third-consecutive crown, and the men earned their second-straight title with a 656-555 victory.

The KSC men and women set 30 school records and six meet marks in the three-day event. Cody Larrimore, a senior from Trappe, Md., was named the men’s Swimmer of the Meet, while Kaila Umbarger, a freshman from Chelmsford, Mass., was selected as the women’s Swimmer of the Meet. Kristine Trutor, a Holden, Mass., native, won the award for most points by a senior.

More information.

Nicaragua
Seven students and four staff members traveled to Nicaragua in January as part of an integrative studies course, Nicaragua in Change. The group met with journalists, environmentalists, women’s groups, musicians, artists, and community leaders who taught them about the economic, psychological, and political consequences of the Contra war on the next generation. The group also heard traditional folk music and live reggae in Managua and visited an active volcano in Masaya and a waterfall in Rio Blanco.

As part of the learning experience, there was also time for sampling local cuisine, staying with families on a rural farming cooperative, dancing, laughing, swatting piñatas, playing sports with the local kids, making tortillas, milking cows, riding horses, and watching monkeys on the lake in Grenada. Oh, and the gang helped local community members paint a preschool. The paint job included a mural featuring planet earth and the KSC owl. The small building, which had been unused, will now serve as a schoolhouse for the cooperative’s youngest children.

The students are now back at KSC, wiser, more enriched, and more fulfilled. Please join them in April as they share their own experiences from the trip as well as their diverse research projects and perspectives on international issues and community service. They’d like to thank  everyone who bought poinsettias during their December fundraiser and the College for supporting this experiential learning course.

El Salvador
Fourteen students and four staff members headed to El Salvador in January for a Habitat for Humanity Global Village Project. Working with local masons, the group helped build a home for a local family. But besides all the hard work, the trip included hiking a volcano in San Miguel, sampling local foods, learning to dance the salsa, visiting an orphanage, and surfing at a local beach. The group had a great time and made many close friends. They’ve continued to stay in touch via the wonders of email and Facebook. When you’re on campus, please check out all the photos  in the display case on the third floor of the Student Center.